Meyer: Voters fear rising property tax

MARENGO — Since winning a spot on the November ballot in the June primary elections, Seth Meyer has heard one main concern from his constituents.

“The main thing [for] people I talk to are the property tax,” Meyer said. “I think it’s just the pinch of everything. They’re afraid the rising cost will raise property taxes.”

Meyer is one of three candidates for two Iowa County Board of Supervisor seats. Jason Grimm and incumbent Abigail Maas are also on the ballot.

The valuations on properties in Iowa County rose this year. “I think people kind of see that,” said Meyer, and they don’t want to give up services. But the county has a budget to meet.

“Costs have gone up for sure,” said Meyer. “The supervisors are going to have to be creative and willing to work with people to keep the budget in check.”

Meyer decided to run for the Iowa County Board of Supervisors after watching other counties restrict farm operations. He wants to make sure his children can have a life in agriculture if they so desire.

Meyer grew up in rural Williamsburg, just south of Middle Amana, he said. He earned an associate degree in agricultural business from Kirkwood Community College and lived in Bloomfield in southern Iowa for a few years.

Meyer and his wife moved back to Iowa County where they raise feed cattle and have a cow-calf operation north of Marengo.

“I have four children, and I hope that some day they can be able to do whatever they want,” Meyer said.

“I do not want us to be like Johnson County,” said Meyer. Just east of Iowa County, Johnson County has passed zoning ordinances restricting feeding operations. “You can’t even put up a very minor animal livestock feeding operation,” Meyer said. “That’s what I’m against,” he said.

“I think that if somebody wants to do something with their property that they should be able to do that — within the law,” said Meyer before the primary election.

Meyer is also against the use of eminent domain when it takes farmland for private businesses rather than for public purposes. Wind turbines and the CO2 pipeline are not public ventures, he said.

“I don’t have a problem with the wind turbines at all,” said Meyer. If landowners want the turbines on their property, they should be able to do that, he said.

But eminent domain should be used “for the greater good,” such as roads. It shouldn’t be used for private “green energy” companies.

As a farmer, Meyer knows the conditions of the roads and bridges in the county. The county engineer’s office is doing a good job getting them back in shape.

“I think the county’s doing a really good job with that,” said Meyer.

“Trucks aren’t getting any lighter,” he said, and several farm-to-market roads can’t be used because the bridges won’t hold the semi-trailer trucks.

“I think the current engineer and the county is working together. And I think they’re doing a good job,” Meyer said.

“They’ve been doing the bridges themselves to save money. I think that they are on the right path. They can only do such at a time. But they’re chipping away at it.”

(“On the Ballot” is a Hometown Current series profiling candidates in Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek Counties. Articles will run as candidates are interviewed. Candidates who do not respond to requests for interviews will not be included in the series.)